← Feed

Posts

• Post #4433692

  From @joannechocolat@mastodon.online And this morning the Shed is an atoll; quiet, but for the sounds of the birds and the occasional flying fish ... #ShedTweetsByJoanneHarris

• Post #4244092

  From @joannechocolat Unsolicited writing advice, no. 7825: Even if you're hoping for publication, not everything you write has to be for others. Practice writing for yourself: it takes off the pressure, and may lead to unexpected discoveries ... #UnsolicitedWritingAdviceByJoanneHarris

• Post #4244091

  From @joannechocolat And this morning the Shed is a dovecote, filled with the murmur of feathers … #ShedTweetsByJoanneHarris

• Post #4244090

  From @joannechocolat Unsolicited #writing advice, no. 7: Much as a pianist benefits from practising scales before trying a Bach variation, it helps for a writer to try several versions of something small before going large. Try this: How many ways can you write a scene in which one character learns that the other is sad? #UnsolicitedWritingAdviceByJoanneHarris

• Post #4244089

  RE: https://pnw.zone/@clew/117004613345272584 #Seattle Peeps! This looks *amazing*! 🤩 Jazz! Swing! Zydeco! Blues! Salsa! Honky-tonk! #Music ! #Dance ! All #FREE ! Let aaaalllll the children boogie! 💃 (Seriously, this looks like SO much fun! At least go for the music, to watch, and to cheer others on - but if you are at all inclined to participate, no experience is needed, no partner is needed, instruction is provided, and masks are not mandatory but encouraged - all you need is the willi...

• Post #4244088

  From @joannechocolat And this morning the Shed is a watermark on the page of an old book, a ghost in print … #ShedTweetsByJoanneHarris

• Post #4244087

  From @joannechocolat Unsolicited #writing advice, no. 763: Having a tough time? Good. Got a rejection? Good. Got a bad review? Good. Had to abandon a project because it wasn't working? Good. These things all teach you resilience, patience and determination; the things you need most as a writer. Trust me: the most unhappy writers I know are the ones who had all the opportunities, every door open from the start, who had the right schools, the right friends, the right connections....

• Post #4244086

  RE: https://vis.social/@lia_pas/116920216340348395 Lovely Peeps, if (like me) you weren't able to attend the sold-out premiere and Q&A last night, at least the performance is now up for everyone to see and it is *gorgeous*. It is five minutes of grace and so much more. 🤩 Unbound: Illness is not the end of the dance ... https://youtu.be/mxK6UKtWuLc Film by Sara Nesson, music by Colby Savary & Mark Orton I was so disappointed to have not been able to register for the...

• Post #4088187

  🚨 #PSA #POTATO PALOOZA, MONDAY, JULY 27 in Denver 🥔 🥔 🥔 Lovely Peeps, do I know anyone who knows anyone in #Denver? 42,000 lbs of #FREE #potatoes are coming their way! Non-profit #WeDon'tWaste is set to receive a mountain of potatoes this weekend & will be giving them away Monday, July 27th, 9 a.m. to noon, at the Park Hill Food Recovery Hub, 6090 East 39th Avenue. Anyone is welcome to come and take as many as they can use. Please boost! :boost_requested: Source: https://denver...

• Post #3993076

  Peeps! Peeps! A friend asked if I would help her pick up a couch - it didn't work out (just a smiiiidge too big for her car) - but! We got homemade cookies & a cherry square at a wee cafe, hit every thrift shop within sixty miles (she is a thrifter extraordinaire! 😄), got great stuff! (including a stunner of a cashmere scarf for me) , WENT TO THE BEACH, *swoon*, & laughed a lot. I took ~ 250 terrible photos, she stopped at a *tiny* roadside fruit & veg stand, got all kinds o...

• Post #2540459

  h/t to @small_cypress for this one! 🙏 A short & easy browser game 'List Animals Until Failure' & it is exactly what it says on the tin - keep listing animals (& get more time) until you can't think of any more. It is surprisingly (& impressively) flexible in what it will accept - if you are close on something but just a little too broad, it will give you the point, but default to the nearest genus or species equivalent. I actually love...

• Post #2538699

  Dear Lovely Peeps! I have not even had breakfast yet, and already have had #ThreeGoodThings happen! 😊 1) I checked on my worms! 🪱 I have been too busy to take care of them properly, which, considering how little care they need is 🤦‍♀️ - but that has not stopped them from, err, 'getting busy' themselves. 😶 Worm eggs EVERYWHERE! 🪱 🪱 🪱 🤩 2) I am trying to find a regular walking partner (or two) and met someone for the first time this morning & it went well. Early...

• Post #2386562

  Lovely Peeps! Today I learned there are very specific colours traditionally used in Japanese art of all kinds (painting, textiles, etc.) - *and* there is a Wikipedia page that shows them all! I love some of the names : Ibis wing, black kite, glazed persimmon, chestnut leather, weathered bamboo, simmered seaweed, 'the brown of a distant river', 'Contemplation in a tea garden' (!!) and more. 🥰 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_colors_of_Japan (h/t to...

• Post #2078747

  From @joannechocolat@mastodon.online And this morning the Shed is an undercover agent, raincoat and magnifying glass at the ready ... #ShedTweetsByJoanneHarris

• Post #2065607

  From @joannechocolat And this morning the Shed is a rice paper fish, swimming under the rice paper stars … #ShedTweetsByJoanneHarris

• Post #2065606

  From @joannechocolat Unsolicited writing advice, no. 34: If you feel stale, try including a restriction to your writing schedule. If you usually write for three hours, limit yourself to one. If you use a PC, work longhand. If you work indoors, go out. Limit your word count. Creativity comes from challenge, not ease. #UnsolicitedWritingAdviceByJoanneHarris

• Post #2065605

  Dear Lovely Peeps, It all does feel rather full-on at the moment! All good things - but full-on, and the small necessities of basic housework - and homework! 😬 - and the small joys of returning emails are completely getting missed, and along with not nearly enough sleep, I am feeling the pressure. But ... this will pass. Things will get sorted. I will find my rhythm again. * I *will* get some sleep, again, some day. * 🙏 🙄 In the meantime, I am grateful for whatever good is coming my way...

• Post #2065602

  Hello Lovely Peeps - am just here for a moment; I'm busy cleaning before the housekeeper arrives. 😄 Just kidding - kind of. I do have a friend who has said she is willing to come over and help me put the place to rights, although I am not sure if that will happen today. (She has spoon issues too & I know she had plans this morning & tonight, so ... she may need the afternoon to herself.) But in anticipation, I *am* getting a lot done. Some of it looks big &am...

• Post #2065601

  From @joannechocolat And this morning the Shed is a belvedere, overlooking a canyon … #ShedTweetsByJoanneHarris

• Post #2065600

  From @joannechocolat Unsolicited #writing advice, no 1. Whatever other reasons you may have to write, never lose sight of your joy. #Joy is enough of an end in itself. #UnsolicitedWritingAdviceByJoanneHarris

• Post #2065599

  From @joannechocolat And this morning the Shed is a postage stamp, bearing the image of the greatest sheds in history … #ShedTweetsByJoanneHarris

• Post #2065598

  Good morning, Lovely Peeps! 🌞 Heading into week two of 'probably not able to be here much' but should end soon. Things have been set in motion, things are now in motion, and hopefully by the end of next week, things will have stopped their motion. (*New* things will then start, but by then, I should be back on track. 🙏) May it be a good Monday & a good week for you all. And to those of you for whom today is a holiday, may it be a good one, with extra rest, recover...

• Post #2065597

  From @joannechocolat Unsolicited writing advice, no. 32: When someone asks what your book is about, don't give them a list of themes, or a genre, or a series of ideas: instead, tell them story. #UnsolicitedWritingAdviceByJoanneHarris

• Post #2065596

  From @joannechocolat Radia Joy Perlman (born 1951) is an American computer programmer, network engineer, & major figure in assembling the networks and technology to enable what we now know as the Internet. Personal note: First of all, I love her name! "Radiating (happy, bright) Joy" - and all the photos of her I have seen seem to bear that out! 😊 Her best-known contribution is the Spanning Tree Protocol (#STP), which transformed Ethernet from a technology limi...

• Post #1571619

  From @joannechocolat Unsolicited writing advice, no. 26: A well-constructed plot needs all of the following: a beginning, which lays out the journey; a development, with properly-managed, escalating tension spikes and suitable moments of repose; and a payoff worthy of the ride. Sounds simple? (Spoiler: it's not.) #UnsolicitedWritingAdviceByJoanneHarris

• Post #1571618

  From @joannechocolat #Benerib (c. 3050 BC) was a queen consort of ancient #Egypt from First Dynasty. She was a wife of #pharaoh Hor-Aha, but it is unclear which one ("Benerib" means "sweetheart.") Either way, she was loved. 🥰 (Image below is a fragment of an ivory box with the names of Hor-Aha and Benerib, found at #Abydos.) Personal note: In researching this, I came across a different ivory panel described as 'serekh of Hor-Aha in the centr...

• Post #1532042

  Lovely Peeps, I have ZERO KNOWLEDGE of this video game, but it seems something Mastodon #gaming folk might like. Hear the caution & proceed at your own risk! 😄 Described as a slow-paced, deeply-engrossing #mystery #game, in which you play the proprietor of a local plant store, and help customers with their sometimes ... unusual ... needs.. 'Find and identify new plants, pet your cat, speak to a coven, or join a cult.' (Wow, that escalated quickly!) 'Use your...

• Post #1518750

  From @joannechocolat Maddalena Casulana (1544–1590) was an Italian #composer, lutenist, and singer. In #Venice, her book of madrigals for four voices, "Il primo libro di madrigali", was the first printed and published work by a woman in Western #music #history. Personal note: much of her work has been lost or is incomplete, but several pieces have been found, restored, & were performed for the first time in 400 years in 2022, on BBC Radio 3 for #InternationalWomen...

• Post #1518749

  Hello Lovely Peeps! I hope you all had a good weekend, and will have a good week to come! I might not be here much the next few days. It was an emotional weekend (mostly okay, but some not so much), and there is a lot to process - plus the next few days are going to be full. I do feel ... okay. That things are starting to come together. A bit like cleaning house and halfway through the day everything is worse than when you started, but by the end of the day, you are in awe of what you ac...

• Post #1518748

  From @joannechocolat And this morning the Shed is a knotted rope, leading up into the clouds … #ShedTweetsByJoanneHarris